DISPATCHES FROM CAMP MONROE: Well, it took me a couple days to get used to the "flow" of Monroe. We all go to breakfast at 6:10 AM then most return to their pillow-lined vortex. Me? I start my day with a 2 mile walk/jog early... while the dormitory sleeps and Planet Earth awakes! I end the day with another 2 mile walk...watching the sun drop over the horizon. Therapy...as Thoreau knew! We have about 3 to 4 acres of luscious green grass around which is a crushed rock track. The air is heavy with that fresh mowed grass fragrance (almost as intoxicating as bacon :)). The field is covered with English daisies and pretty yellow buttercups ... or maybe they're dandelions but pretty none-the-less. My foot falls on the gravel, I think it is pea-gravel...whatever...sounds like someone eating Special K cereal - makes me hungry - ha! As my attention turns to the ten foot fence that borders the track, I notice at the top is a spool of razor wire about 200 yards long. As the sun reflects off the metal it looks like a piece of art, really! Kinda like a mobile by Alexander Calder or some of Frank Gehry's architecture...glaring/gazing back at me?!? I stumble 'cuz I'm distracted by the beauty of the "fence-art" so I refocus on the track. But my mind sees the spools as something else... what? Then out of the blue I see it. It looks like a very long Slinkie...or were those called Slinky. It is a piece of art...obviously! And now...a toy memory! I flash back to age 7 or 8 in California. I had a Slinkie/Slinky. We were living with my mother's second husband, my birth certificate dad yet not my bio-dad. I know...it's complicated. Anyway I remember playing with Slinkie/Slinky on the steps inside our home in Santa Cruz. I think I can remember giggling. Maybe I'm making that part up but it's possible. Where did all the innocence go? Fast fwd to Monroe and how this huge barrier to freedom brings me to my childhood...our minds are amazing, eh?? More good news?!@# Whoever said higher education pays dividends knew what s/he was talking about. This morning my counselor told me I qualify to work in the laundry, kitchen or picking up garbage in the yard. Then she noticed I had an undergraduate as well as graduate degrees. She then said "let's get you in the classroom as a TA or tutor or even a teacher." Yippie - Skippie...blessings be mine! Well that's it for now. It time for my vegan lunch...the way to lose weight? BEcome vegan...30 pounds gone!! Editor's update!New post address for THE MAN is: Patrick M. Leonard DOC 381195, B-310-L PO Box 7001 Monroe, WA 98272 AND IF YOU'RE CLOSE-BY AND WANNA VISIT...PML has yet to have a human package arrive for chatting! Here are the hours for May..they change each month...we think?? Friday the 8th, Sunday the 10th and Monday the 11th - 1:00 to 3:30 and 6:00 to 8:00. Friday the 15th, Saturday the 16th and Monday the 18th - 1:00 to 3:30 and 6:00 to 8:00. Friday the 22, Sunday the 24th :-) and Monday the 25th - 1:00 to 3:30 and 6:00 to 8:00. Friday the 29th, Saturday the 30th and Monday June 1st - 1:00 to 3:30 and 6:00 to 8:00.
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AuthorPatrick Michael Leonard Archives
August 2020
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